Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning affirmative action have left Human Resource Management in a void. This research will discuss the significance of one such case in particular on the impact of affirmative action policies in the public sector.
The Supreme Court dramatically changed the implementation of Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act, which requires a minimum of federal contracts with disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, 115 S.Ct. 2097 (1995). The Small Business Act is the basis for the federal government's affirmative action program to provide support to socially and economically disadvantaged business. Under the act, members of one of the specified racial or ethnic groups are presumed to be socially and economically disadvantaged business enterprises or DBE. Thus, these groups need not show that in fact, they are disadvantaged. The support is given in the form of preferences and set-asides in contracts awarded by the federal government. These set-asides form much of the basis of affirmative action programs in the public sector at the federal level.
In Adarand, the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the use of racial preferences to award government contracts is prohibited unless there is a compelling government interest and the measures are narrowly tailored to meet specific goals. The practical effect of this was to make it significantly more difficult for federal affirmative action programs based on race to pass muster when challenged as constituting reverse discrimination.
The Adarand case involved the use of a clause in a highway contract awarded by the Federal Highway Administration under which the prime contractor would be awarded bonus dollars if it exceeded the established DBE subcontracting goals. The prime contractor in Adarand awarded the subcontract to a DBE even though its bid was higher than that of Adarand, which was not a DBE. Thou...